No matter how much you think it sucks (which it doesn't) or forwards the cult of Mac (which it does) or doesn't like PCs (it works great with Windows, actually), the fact remains that it is the first pervasive, useful mp3 player. Try to kill it all you want. It'll never die. It's part of our cultural DNA at this point.
The entire reason television commercials exist in the first place is to create revenue for a network, therefore making television programming free. iTunes is making you pay for that programming now, effectively making it "pay" television. Commercials should be omitted.
How'd ya like it if HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, etc. suddenly started showing commercials but still expected the same, or higher, monthly fees?
ABC is ripping us off and setting a new standard for corporate greed in order to keep their advertisers happy.
It is unfair to compare game experiences to other mass media experiences. Games are the only ones that are TRULY interactive. The choices made within the game are yours and yours alone. While watching movies, reading books, going to the theater, etc. - you are subject to someone's else's interpretation of some particular thing. The author, filmmaker, playwright, artist chooses what you see. In a game, it's YOUR choice whether or not to kill or maim or torture or rape another human being. The motivation is coming from YOU.
I work in the game industry on the development and programming side (including Doom and two Medal of Honor games) and I work for a nonprofit organization that teaches people about the Freedom of Information Act, yet no one can convince me that GTA or 25 to Life is acceptable entertainment. They're not even games, per se. Rather, they're a "safe" way for a person who believes himself or herself to possess a moral center to experience what it would be like to live with no rules. They are subversive. I have heard of game treatments that are little more than developing your own torture devices and deciding who to terrorize. There are serial killer games in development. This is pathetic.
This country is immersed in puritannical pursuits with more fervor than at any time in the last fifty years because of our President and his thinly-veiled greed-through-God policies. Censorship is creeping back into popular culture with great speed. The ridciulous Patriot Act is going strong once again. All really scare the hell out of me and the love I have for being an American with civil liberties (the ability to sit and write this is a luxury in and of itself). BUT, in the case of the games in question - I have no problem keeping these things away from kids altogether and hopefully convincing game manufacturers to move away from simulating extremely violent environments that may occur in our real world. I just don't need an army of self-declared "rational" adults with a free-speech agenda having the ability to sit on their couches and earn rewards for killing cops and innocent civilians.
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No matter how much you think it sucks (which it doesn't) or forwards the cult of Mac (which it does) or doesn't like PCs (it works great with Windows, actually), the fact remains that it is the first pervasive, useful mp3 player. Try to kill it all you want. It'll never die. It's part of our cultural DNA at this point.
The entire reason television commercials exist in the first place is to create revenue for a network, therefore making television programming free. iTunes is making you pay for that programming now, effectively making it "pay" television. Commercials should be omitted. How'd ya like it if HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, etc. suddenly started showing commercials but still expected the same, or higher, monthly fees? ABC is ripping us off and setting a new standard for corporate greed in order to keep their advertisers happy.
I smell driving school.
I work in the game industry on the development and programming side (including Doom and two Medal of Honor games) and I work for a nonprofit organization that teaches people about the Freedom of Information Act, yet no one can convince me that GTA or 25 to Life is acceptable entertainment. They're not even games, per se. Rather, they're a "safe" way for a person who believes himself or herself to possess a moral center to experience what it would be like to live with no rules. They are subversive. I have heard of game treatments that are little more than developing your own torture devices and deciding who to terrorize. There are serial killer games in development. This is pathetic.
This country is immersed in puritannical pursuits with more fervor than at any time in the last fifty years because of our President and his thinly-veiled greed-through-God policies. Censorship is creeping back into popular culture with great speed. The ridciulous Patriot Act is going strong once again. All really scare the hell out of me and the love I have for being an American with civil liberties (the ability to sit and write this is a luxury in and of itself). BUT, in the case of the games in question - I have no problem keeping these things away from kids altogether and hopefully convincing game manufacturers to move away from simulating extremely violent environments that may occur in our real world. I just don't need an army of self-declared "rational" adults with a free-speech agenda having the ability to sit on their couches and earn rewards for killing cops and innocent civilians.